Improvement in games of cards



M. BRADLEY.

Games of Cards URIKHTT'EEF Patented Nov. 26,1822.

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MILTON BRADLEY, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN GAMES OF CARDS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 133,296, dated November 26,1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILTON BRADLEY, of

Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Games; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in a class of games of which the well-known game of Authors is a fair representation. That game is played with a number of cards, upon one side of which are printed the names of authors and their works. Any number of sets of cards were used, say four, and each set had any desired number of names printed thereon; for example, one set .in the pack might have .Wilkie Collins forthe author and three of his works, in which case one card would have the name of Wilkie Collins in large type at" the top, and below, in smaller type, three of his works, as Armadale, The Moonstone, and Man and Wife: Another card would have The Moon stone in large type at the top, and mkip Qplli-ns, Armadale, and Man and Wife below in smaller type; and so on until each of the four-names had been placed at the top with the others below. Four sets of cards with difi'erent authors andtheir works, arranged as above described, would constitute a pack; and the game was played by one person dealing the cards, and the next player would call for any card having the name of any certain author at the top or any of his works, the object be ing for the person calling to get into his possession one particular set of cards, of which one had the authors name at the top and all the other cards of that set; and the one who drew into his possession and retained the greatest number of these sets or books, as they are termed, won the game.

The above explains fully the common game of Authors, to which, however, I make no claim; but upon which my invention is an improvement.

I take, first, the name of any prominent author, as, for example, that of Charles Dickens, and select any desirable number of his works, say six, as follows: Pickwick Papers,

Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, Old

Curiosity Shop, Barn y and David Copperfield, and from each of these select any desirable number of characters; for example, from Pickwick Papers select Mr. Pickwick, Sam Weller, Mrs. Hardell, Buzfuz, and Fat Boy, prominent characters of that particular work, and so of the other works. One card in each set has the name of the work printed thereon, in prominent characters, together with the names of the charac' ters or persons chosen from that work, which card is the characteristic one, or book-card, of

each set, as shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 6, and each set consists of this book-card and as many other cards as there are characters, with the name of one of the characters printed upon one of the cards, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. Upon all the cards in each set is printed any certain number, and the number upon the several sets is various, and may be different upon each set. For example, upon all the cards in the set Pickwick Papers is printed the number 20, and upon all the cards in the set David Copperfield is printed the number 1, with various intermediate numbers printed on the cards of each other set.

In addition to the cards as above described, I have one other which has no number printed thereon, or which is different from all the others, and which may have any appropriate design thereon, as the name or portrait of the author, and which card does not match any other card in the pack, and this I denominate the author-card.

In playing the game, as each player obtains any full set he lays them aside, and each full set or book thus obtained counts in value to its possessor a number corresponding to the number printed upon the cards of that particular set; and. when all the books or sets have been formed the player who counts up the highest number, as above described, wins the game. This addition and use of the numbers to each set is one of the features of my invention. Any one of the players who holds the author-card in his hand, when he has called for and obtained all the cards of any set or book, may put this author-card away with such set or book, and at the end of the game the set or book havingthis odd card with it may count in value twice or three times the value, as may be decided upon by the players, which it otherwise would have counted.

Now, in the progress of the game, it will be seen that it is for the interest of the player holding the odd or author card to keep it in his hand until he can make up a set or book having the highest number thereon, in

order that the odd card, in doubling or trebling the original value of his set or book, may

gain for him the highest number possible toward winning the game but in trying to hold it in waiting to make up the most valuable set the chances are that some other player will call for it and get it from him. This addition and his works may form the basis of the game, as any subject may be the main feature in that respect, as, for example, any noted publisher, and the books he has published, &c., and still preserve the same game and the method of playing it.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a game of cards played as herein described, the combination of the numbers upon the different sets of cards with the odd or author card, substantially as set forth.

MILTON BRADLEY.

\Vitnesses T. ,A. CURTIS, I CLARENCE E. BUGKLAND. 

